Council to address liquor license requirements

Friday

Jan 4, 2013 at 5:01 PM

After last month's questions over the required FBI background checks for alcohol license applicants, the Tuscaloosa City Council is expected to consider an ordinance on Tuesday to relax the rule for certain businesses.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | After last month’s questions about the required FBI background checks for alcohol license applicants, the Tuscaloosa City Council is expected to consider an ordinance on Tuesday to relax the rule for certain businesses.The change would eliminate the requirement of an FBI background check for publicly traded corporations whenever a new store under the corporate umbrella seeks a license to sell booze as long as the corporation already operates within the state of Alabama.“The intent is, if you have a publicly traded corporation as an applicant, the director (of the city’s Revenue Department) may waive the background check, provided they’ve already been approved for a license within the state of Alabama,” said Senior Associate City Attorney Jimbo Woodson.If adopted on Tuesday, businesses that qualify could start benefiting from the loosened restrictions as early as the following week.However, not everyone involved believes the changes go far enough.Local attorney Cam Parsons said the city should drop the requirement for the federal check altogether.And Parsons’ main client, Tuscaloosa developer Stan Pate, said an ABI probe should suffice and questioned why only publicly traded businesses are offered the waiver when state and local authorities will be the ones enforcing the local alcoholic beverage control laws for all businesses in Tuscaloosa.“The city needs to take a deep breath when it starts adding additional layers of bureaucracy to the process,” Pate said. “I don’t think you can draw a distinction between publicly traded and privately held.”Parsons’ involvement with the issue came at the behest of Pate and executives with Mapco Express Inc. when Mapco brought the issue before the City Council on Dec. 18.Parsons lobbied the council for an exception to this requirement for Mapco in order to expedite the approval of the company’s beer and wine license applications for its new store at the intersection of Bear Creek Road and Alabama Highway 69 South.Parsons questioned the City Council on why the FBI check was required while other cities in Alabama are satisfied with a similar check by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.Parsons and the Mapco officials were told that the FBI standard was adopted by the City Council after a business owner was granted alcohol licenses based on the findings of an ABI check. It was later revealed that the owner had a criminal history outside of the state that the ABI probe had failed to uncover.No concessions were made for Mapco that day and the store has since opened, albeit without alcohol.Signs inside the business inform customers that beer and wine soon will be available.